Begging in late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 56 The thief is hard to change?
The one who yelled was a young man in his thirties, called Zhao Sheng, who could be regarded as Song Qingshu's cheating father. He was a frequent visitor to the small restaurant. Looking extraordinarily embarrassed, the newly recruited servant, Qiao'er, shivered and hid aside, holding an empty plate at a loss.

As early as Tian Shelang, Xideng Tianzitang.The imperial examination system has created a miracle in China, giving the lower class people the opportunity to truly reach the world. However, this single-plank bridge is narrower than the college entrance examination that was crowded with thousands of troops back then. Study hard for a lifetime in poverty, or you can only accept your life as some low-level civil servants who are also looked down upon.

Zhu Yuanzhang is shrewd enough to remember. A county has a county magistrate, a county magistrate, and a chief secretary. Later generations manage a town and even have a government team. These three people manage tens of thousands of people. Where can the county be in charge, and Qi Xia has to recruit a lot of code envoys, and the small people like arresting the head, Zhao Sheng is the county code envoy of Chang'an, the real local operation of the Ming Dynasty is actually all on the shoulders of these unknown little people superior.

A typical thankless job, and you can't open one or two taels of silver a month, but just like Kong Yiji in Mr. Lu Xun's writings, you have to be arty when you are poor, and you go to drink. After becoming a fashion official, Zhao Sheng is no exception. He didn't pay his monthly salary, so he ran here at the first place, drank two glasses of beer, and ordered a plate of French fries and fried chicken. happiness.

But a civil servant like him can be regarded as a semi-complete proletariat. A bag of money is all he needs for life next month. Once he loses it, let alone how to live this month, he doesn’t even know what to do with today’s drink money After paying, under the watchful eyes of others, while searching, he was sweating profusely from anxiety.

"what happened?"

Seeing Song Qingshu greet him with concern, this person blushed even more with embarrassment, and he hesitated to explain: "Stupid shopkeeper, I forgot to bring my purse today, I hope you have some money left, let me go home and look for it first. Come back and pay the bill?"

I don't know who is called Shunzui, Song Qingshu's title of fool can't be taken off at all, and he grinned again, Song Qingshu fisted helplessly, and persuaded politely: "Mr. Leng Chan's faith, my younger brother naturally knows it It's clear, don't worry, go back and look for it slowly, and just settle the score next time."

"So, thank you, silly shopkeeper."

After making a bow, Zhao Sheng ran out again, sweating profusely, probably looking for it carefully on the road to the county government.

Song Qingshu didn't care about this matter, just like Kong Yiji in Lu Xun's works, these masters who wear long gowns and drink while standing are also the most face-saving group of people, and they are determined not to ruin their reputation because of a meal.

Holding the fruit box, Song Qingshu walked towards the back kitchen again, but he didn't notice that Scarface, who had been sweeping the floor at the door with a broom, threw away the broom abruptly, turned around and followed, seeing the fruit coming, Caiwei Pulling up the sleeves of Qiao'er who was a little at a loss, the two little maids also followed in, but Xiaobao was the only one left in front of her.

After exercising, Song Qingshu was quite proud of his muscles. When he saw Scarface following him, he quickly carried the fruit box onto the table, turned his head and said with a smile: "My shopkeeper is no longer Wuxia Ameng yesterday. , I don’t need your help.”

Scarface didn't go away, but got closer. Under Song Qingshu's amazed gaze, this gang slapped Qiaoer's flat ass roguely.

In the scream of the little female thief, Caiwei pinched her waist angrily and turned around, shouting unhappily: "Uncle Xia, what are you doing?"

Song Qingshu's brows frowned all of a sudden, he didn't care about Caiwei, he bent straight down, picked up a small navy blue cloth bag embroidered with bamboo from the ground, opened it after blowing the dust, and found a few taels of silver There is also a small handful of copper coins suddenly revealed, especially a seal with the word Lengchan engraved in reverse seal characters!
The scarred face was taken from the folds of Qiaoer's maid dress skirt. Seeing Song Qingshu's gloomy expression, the little thief's face turned pale in an instant.

…………

"The buddy picked it up from the garbage, and now it's returned to Zhao, Mr. Leng Chan, don't worry!"

"The silly shopkeeper is so kind, I am very grateful!"

Zhao Sheng, who was already sweating profusely, bowed and thanked him in relief. Seeing this honest man's expression of gratitude, the corners of Song Qingshu's mouth twitched unnaturally.

Sending away the grateful Zhao Sheng who insisted on begging him, Song Qingshu hurried back to the store. In front of the store, Caiwei, who was already busy and sweaty, was taking care of him. Fortunately, he was not at the meal time at this time. There were only two or three wandering dandies eating, and when Song Qingshu came back, her beautiful eyes showed worry immediately, but this time she didn't dare to persuade her any more.

Also helplessly smiled at her, ignored the business, and Song Qingshu hurriedly went straight to the backyard.

The buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties seem to be similar. There is a big tree on the right side of Fangfang’s courtyard. Under the tree, a pair of thieves and sisters hug each other tremblingly. On the bench opposite them, one leg is standing on the stool. On the ground, one leg was spread flat on the ground, and Scarface swung his sharp knife once and for all.

Hearing Song Qingshu's return, Scarface didn't look back, stared at the siblings and said with a sneer: "I said earlier, thieves are hard to change, and you shouldn't pick them up, so you shouldn't spread the word that the hands and feet of your store are not clean." , your signboard will be smashed."

"But it's not too late now, anyway, even if you report to the official, Catcher Zhang will sell this little girl, why don't we earn this little money ourselves, just as I know Ren Yazi who is going south to dump the girl, as for this Boy, it’s okay to sell it to Shanxi to dig coal.”

Scarface's words obviously made the two thieves tremble into a ball, but Song Qingshu himself was speechless. Scarface and his gang really know everyone, so we have to be careful in the future, and we can't let him lead Caiwei down. !
Ignoring Scarface's crazy words, Song Qingshu walked up to the siblings with a serious face, took a few glances at the two little ones who were huddled together like quails, stretched out his hand to pat the heads of the two of them, unexpectedly he was shivering just now The trembling Qiaoer suddenly bit Song Qingshu's hand.

This effort was enough, the painful Song Qingshu almost didn't shed tears, he hurriedly flung his hands and retreated, pushed Song Qingshu away, the little female thief pushed Xiaobao again, and shouted sharply: "Run!"

The two thieves were as cold as rats, and they slipped along Song Qingshu's side. However, seeing the kitchen at the back door was in front of them, before the little thief showed any joy, a sharp sound of wind rang in his ears. sounded.

With a plop, Qiaoer flew upside down like a kite with a broken string, and then Xiaobao rolled back like a ball. Who is the scarred face?Even Xing Hongniang and Xiaoluobo, two Lianjiazi, couldn't hold back the ruthless man killed by thousands of troops, and the felon wanted by Jin Yiwei. They all kicked back.

He casually kicked the stool against the door to block it, and with a grinning scare face, he took out a hemp rope from his waist that Hongniang Xing used to perform rope skills on, threw it on the ground, and shouted impatiently: "Dogs can't change things that eat feces, What's the point of talking to them, bundle it with hemp rope, and take it away whether she likes it or not, why bother if you suffer so much?"

Seeing the heavy hemp rope thrown in front of her, Qiaoer's fear obviously deepened, but immediately she was full of determination. She resisted the burning pain in her chest and blocked Xiaobao behind her, facing the scarred face sternly. Shouted: "I stole the money from my aunt, if you have the ability to attack me, don't drag my brother down! Otherwise, I won't let you go if I turn into a ghost!"

"What a pair of sisters and brothers who love each other deeply." Smiling grinningly, he dragged the rope to scar his face and walked forward. Who knew that Song Qingshu, who had finally changed from the pain in the middle of the walk, suddenly grabbed his clothes.

"This is not a peaceful time anymore! Why don't you understand? If you don't clean them up today, in another day, sooner or later, these little devils will intensify the disaster and destroy your family!" Turning around, Scarface yelled angrily: " Put away your poor compassion, shall we?"

Shaking the wound on his hand, Song Qingshu grinned and shook his head, and asked rhetorically, "When you and Caiwei came to the door, didn't we still help?"

"you……"

The scarred face suddenly turned red, but he was so choked that he couldn't speak. He rubbed the painful wound on his hand, and Song Qingshu shouted angrily at the trembling siblings lying on the ground: "Don't be wronged. If you don't look like you, if you didn't provoke me first, nothing would happen!"

"It's not easy for anyone to live these days. I don't talk nonsense anymore. Either you continue to work for me honestly and abide by the rules! If I have a bite to eat, I won't let you go hungry. This is called being dependent! Or you just Get out now, and don't appear here again!"

Saying that, covering his bleeding hand, Song Qingshu angrily went to the kitchen and started to clean it.

"Tsk tsk, it can be sold for ten taels of silver!" Shaking his head regretfully, as if mocking Song Qingshu's innocence, Scarface stared at Qiaoer and shook his head, then followed to the back kitchen.

Listening to the busy and bustling sounds in the small restaurant, hugging Xiaobao who was still screaming in pain, Qiaoer's pair of eyes that are round and round because of her thinness are also full of pain and choices...

(End of this chapter)